5 3 3 Years After The
Conquest of Istanbul
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his year we axe celebrating
the 5 3 3 rd anniversary of
the Conquest of Istanbul. Below
is an account of how the dfy was
captured from the Byzantines.
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Genoese colony in Galata. Sultan Mehmet told the Byzantine ambassadors that he would act in comp liance with peace and the agreements between these two states.
During the Karaman campaign, while Sultan Mehmet was in Akşehir, the Byzantine emissaries came and asked him to double the annual payment of three hundred thousand akçes made by the Ot toman state for Orhan Chelebi, the son of Kasim Chelebi and the grandson of Sultan Bayezid Khan the Thunderbolt, who had been taken hostage by the Byzantines. The Emperor claimed that Orhan Chelebi was the rightful heir to the Ottoman thro ne. For this reason he was visited by many peop le, who addressed him as “ B ey ” , and Prince Or han bestowed gifts upon them. T he annual ran som was not sufficient to pay for these gifts, and the emperor said that he was not wealthy enough to ofter him financial assitance. He threatened to release Prince Orhan if his demand was not met.
Sultan Mehmet saw throught the ploys of the emperor and told his emissaries that the would gi ve his reply upon his return to Edirne, the Otto man capital in Thrace. Now Sultan Mehmet was convinced that the decadent Byzantine Empire had becom e a festering wound in the side of the yo ung and expanding Ottoman Empire-a wound which had to be lanced. Having taken his decisi on, he first ordered the constrution of Rumelia Fort ress on the European shore of the Bosphorus, and the repair of Anatolia Fortress builty by Bayezid Khan on the Asian shore. Thus the Ottomans w o
uld control the Bosphorus strait and be able to pre vent aid from the Black Sea reaching Istanbul. Construction of the new fortress began on 2 6 March 1 4 5 2 and it was completed in mid-July. Throw n into panic, the emperor sent a delegation to request that construction be halted, but Sultan Mehmet replied, “ My power extends to places where even the hopes and desires of your empe ror cannot reach.”
After the young Ottoman Emperor had returned to Edime and completed all his preparations, he set out at the head of his army, reaching Istanbul on 5 April 1 4 5 3 . W hen the emperor rejected his demand to surrender, the dty was beseiged the fol lowing day, and Turkish connonfire reduced the famous walls of the city to rubble. The city finally fell on 2 9 May 1 4 5 3 , bringing down with it the Eastern Roman-Byzantine Empire.
Having captured the city the Conqueror embar ked on an ambitious building and development programme. He invited the eminent scholars of the eastern world to Istanbul and students began the ir studies in the Zeyrek Mosque. After the Fatih Mosque and Sahn-i Seman madrasahs or colloges were built, the study of theology, literature, his tory, philosophy, medicine and the positive scien ces began. The new Ottoman capital became a fa mous centre of learning, culture and free thought. Sultan Mehmet Khan’s life was an illustrious one of victory and honour. He died on 3 May 1 4 8 1 , while leading his army at Sultan’s Meadows near Maltepe. He was only 4 9 years old.
Sultan Mehmet was a peerless administrator and
politician, as well as a fine soldier. He set great store by science and scholarship. He himself spo ke Arabic, Persian, Greek and Latin, as well as his mother tongue of Turkish, and had read the ma jor works of his time in these languages.
He had planned to conquer Italy and Egypt, but died before he could fulfill these ambitions. If he had lived another twenty years, the Ottoman Empi re might have extented its domination over all of Europe.
The Tiled Pavilion This is one of the most sig nificant buildings to have survived from the reign of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror. Built in 1 4 7 2 , it originally commanded a view over the Golden Horn, and is superb in both design and constructi on. W hen it was first built it was known as the Glazed Palace because of the mosaics which ador ned the exterior and the tiles which covered the interior walls. O ver the centuries much of this de coration has been lost, and in 1 8 7 5 when the Arc haeological Museum was built opposite, the buil ding suffered extensive damage. In the Republican period the Tiled Pavilion was fully renovated and converted into the Museum of the Conqueror (Fatih).
The Swords of the Conqueror Like all the Otto man sultans, Sultan Mehmet II was trained from a young age in the arts of war and horsemanship. He was skilled in the use of all the weapons of his time and an accomplished cavalryman. In 1 4 5 6 , during the seige of Belgrade, he displayed great co urage and skill in battle. The picture shows some of the Conqueror’s own swords and rapiers.
Kişisel Arşivlerde Istanbul Belleği Taha Toros Arşivi
